


When you wish upon a star

by StrangeNoise



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Shooting Stars, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 12:50:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20258389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: Hank takes Connor to see a meteor shower for his first actual birthday. Between making wishes and giving birthday gifts, they finally gather the courage to act on their feelings for each other





	When you wish upon a star

“Will you finally tell me where we are going?”, Connor asks, his LED blinking yellow at his temple and Hank can’t help but smile at the almost pained expression on the android’s face.  
  
“I told you, it’s a surprise”, he replies and earns himself a frustrated huff from Connor. If he had known the brunet was this incapable of dealing with not knowing what awaited him, Hank would have done it far earlier. Seeing the frustration on Connor’s face would usually worry him but on this day, it amuses him to no end.  
  
“We’re almost there”, he assures Connor placatingly, but the android is pouting now. Hank smiles and turns his eyes back to the road.  
  
They’re currently on their way to a lovely little spot outside of Detroit. Back in Hank’s youth, there had been a camping ground nearby and the small parking lot close to it had been the hotspot for teens to make out in their cars like in an 80’s movie. He has been there several times but today it isn’t because he wants to seduce a partner but because it is the 14th of August and tomorrow is Connor’s birthday. Hank still remembers how bewildered Connor had looked when he had asked him when his birthday was. The android had muttered something along the lines of August 15th being the day he had first been activated and Hank had rolled with it.  
  
About a week ago he read in a newspaper that a large number of shooting stars would be visible tonight and he decided on the spot to take Connor to see them. With the lights of the city and the smog, it was obvious that they had to get out of Detroit to see them properly. And after some research, Hank remembered this place. The camping grounds had been closed ages ago but the parking lot was still there so he would have a place to park his car and get them both comfortable somewhere close by. He told Connor about a surprise he had planned for him and the android had been on edge ever since. A few times Hank considered at least telling him about the shooting stars but not his birthday gift. But in the end, he decided against it.  
  
Finally, Hank pulls into the parking lot and realizes that there are no other cars around which suits him just fine. He greatly enjoys time alone with Connor. Plus, he doesn’t want any onlookers when he gives Connor his birthday gift.  
  
“We’re here”, Hank announces and kills the engine. Connor looks at him with a raised brow, clearly, he still has no idea what any of this is about and Hank can hardly believe he managed to deceive one of Cyberlife’s best androids this long.  
  
“Come on”, he says and ushers Connor out of the car. He retrieves an old blanket from the backseat and carries it to a nearby meadow. Connor follows him, a look of confusion still on his face.  
  
“What are we doing here, Hank?”, he asks once Hank has spread out the blanket and they’re sitting down on it.  
  
“Look up and see for yourself”, Hank replies cryptically. He is almost sure Connor is going to punch him sometime soon for being so secretive about the whole thing. Instead, the android looks up with a frown. Hank does the same and inwardly congratulates himself on his choice of location. The look at the stars is beautiful from here and would have been downright impossible to get in Detroit. Turning towards Connor, he can see the frown melt from the brunet’s face.  
  
“The sky is beautiful tonight”, the android murmurs, keeping his gaze fixed skyward. Suddenly, his eyes widen.  
  
“A shooting star!”, he exclaims, reminding Hank of an excited five-year-old, “I’ve never seen one before!” Hank hoped that would be the case when he took Connor here and to have his suspicions confirmed fills him with warm contentment.  
  
“There are going to be lots tonight”, he tells Connor, “I thought you’d like to see that and maybe make a wish or two.” Connor turns to him, frowning again. Hank suddenly remembers how unfamiliar the brunet is with human customs and superstitions.  
  
“Humans believe that if you see a shooting star you get to make a wish and it comes true”, he tells Connor, “But you’re not allowed to say it out loud or it won’t come true after all.” The android raises a brow at him, his LED doing a few cycles of yellow before settling on blue again.  
  
“That’s strange”, he mutters, then shrugs and smiles, “But I’ll try it! And you should too.” Hank chuckles and nods, then ushers the brunet to look up again.  
  
Connor smiles and looks up at the sky as more shooting stars cross his line of sight. Hank watches Connor enraptured by his excitement. The expression on his face is one of pure bliss. They sit in comfortable silence for a while, Connor watching the sky and Hank watching Connor. Hank finds he could do this forever and shakes his head at himself for being such an old sap.  
  
“There are so many shooting stars”, Connor says eventually, “I don’t even know what to wish for anymore.” Hank chuckles at that. Even in a situation like this Connor’s perfectionism and wish to take part in human customs won’t let him be. It’s endearing.  
  
“Stop wishing then and just watch”, Hank suggests easily and lifts his head to look at the night sky for the first time in a long while. It truly is beautiful out here, where the view of the stars isn’t blocked by thousands of lights and smog. The world is small and peaceful around them and Hank feels like he never wants to leave.  
  
“Are you wishing for something?”, Connor asks after a few moments of silence and Hank’s heart does a little jump in his chest. Of course, he still wishes for things although he might have lost the childlike hope of them ever coming true. Or at least he had before Connor stumbled into his life. Having the android around and telling him everything about humans his fancy programming couldn’t tell him was like experiencing the world anew for the first time. Hank had found so much negativity and darkness in his life that he had never questioned before because they had been the norm for him. It had taken a curious android asking on and on about why he did this but not that for him to see and maybe sometimes want to change things.  
  
It’s a painfully slow process and sometimes Hank thinks that getting into this mess was far easier than to get out now. But with Connor by his side, he manages a little more every day. And as much as Hank sometimes hates himself for the thought, wants Connor to go experience the world and live life to the fullest, he wants the android to stay close to him and never leave. It isn’t a new thought by any means but sometimes it still scares Hank. He had no idea when he began thinking about Connor that way but one day a warm feeling had started to bubble up inside Hank whenever he looked at his friend. It had taken him quite a while to identify what it was and even longer to come to terms with it.  
  
When he did, Hank had called himself an idiot for it. Here he was in his mid-fifties, falling in love with the first being to care for him in years. It was ridiculous, really. Except it isn’t and Hank is madly in love with an android, who he considers one of his best friends. Connor has mentioned on multiple occasions how much he values his friendship with Hank, so he doubts he has any desire to change anything about the state of how things between them are now. It hurts but it’s fine. At least, that’s what Hank tells himself. In truth, sometimes even looking at Connor hurts too much to bear but he’s determined to pull through and save this friendship instead of destroying it with his awkward feelings.  
  
On nights like this, when Connor’s face is illuminated beautifully by the moon and the stars and he looks just so happy and full of life, it’s especially hard. But Hank wants him to live his life and not be weighed down by someone like him. At the same time, he knows that if Connor showed him one shred of interest, he’d jump at it and cling to it for dear life. Sometimes it scares Hank how deeply in love he is with the android but, no matter if it would turn into an actual relationship at some point or not, he cherishes the feeling. He has been so numb and miserable for years now that knowing he can still feel love and happiness somewhere deep inside makes him feel just that tiny bit better.  
  
Trying not to dwell on his glum thoughts for much longer, Hank decides to check the time. It’s a little past midnight.  
  
“Well, it’s officially the 15th”, Hank says after a quick look at his phone and turns to Connor with a smile, “Happy Birthday, Con!” Hank leans over and pulls the android into a tight hug. The sudden red and yellow blinking of Connor’s LED has him drawing back again, though.  
  
“Birthday?”, Connor asks, voice barely above a whisper, “But androids aren’t born the way humans are.”  
  
“Yeah, no shit”, Hank retorts with a snort, “But you told me once that you were first activated on august 15th 2038. So I figured that’d be the closest to a birthday as you’d get…” Hank tries not to let on how self-conscious he actually is. It only dawns on him now that it might have been presumptuous to just fix a date for Connor’s birthday like this. Maybe the android would like a different date? Hank remembers reading somewhere that most androids chose the day they deviated as their birthday which made for a ton of November birthdays. Maybe Connor considered his birthday to be in winter, too. Hank’s only saving grace at that moment is that Connor doesn’t look angry. He looks rather confused instead.  
  
“That’s correct but that was a different body…”, he tells Hank, his LED still doing a fancy yellow light show. At least the red is gone, Hank thinks.  
  
“Yeah, but…I mean, you were Connor back then and you’re Connor now”, Hank tries to explain his reasoning, “As weird as this whole ‘new body’ thing is, it doesn’t mean you’ve become a different person every time, right?” Connor doesn’t answer immediately. He looks thoughtful for a while, his LED finally returning to a calm blue eventually.  
  
“I guess you’re right”, he finally says, a smile slowly spreading on his face, “Thank you for remembering my birthday, then.” Hank breathes a sigh of relief and allows himself to return Connor’s smile. Then he remembers another thing.  
  
“Wait a second, I got something for you!”, Hank tells Connor and gets to his feet. He tries not to second-guess himself again as he goes back to the car and retrieves a small box wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper from the trunk. Finding a suitable birthday gift for Connor had given Hank more than one headache. The android tended to buy whatever he liked the moment he saw it so the moment he told Hank about that thing he thought looked cool he had more often than not already ordered it. Telling Connor not to buy a certain product he liked would have immediately aroused suspicion.  
  
So Hank spent nights on end trying to find something Connor would like but wouldn’t find and buy for himself before Hank could actually gift it to him. In the end, Hank had been successful even though the gift was a bit silly. He just hopes Connor will like it too.  
  
“There you go”, Hank announces as he sits back down and hands Connor the box, “Happy Birthday again, Con.” Connor thanks him, then looks at the package for a moment as if he can’t decide what to do with it.  
  
“You didn’t have to get me anything”, he tells Hank when he finally begins to unwrap the box. As with all other things, he does it so neatly and carefully that Hank half-expects him to want to re-use the wrapping paper again. When Connor is finally done, he frowns at the simple brown carton inside. Hank can barely hide his smile as Connor slowly opens the box.  
  
Suddenly, his eyes go so wide that Hank thinks they’re going to pop right out of their sockets. Slowly, Connor retrieves the plush corgi toy from the box and looks at it with disbelief in his eyes. His LED is back to spurts of yellow between phases of blue, but this time Hank knows it’s from excitement and he can’t help but smile at the sight of it. The smile breaks into full-blown chuckles the moment Connor lifts the corgi-print socks that lay next to the toy. He holds them up into the air between them and raises a brow as if to say ‘Really, Hank?’  
  
“Hey, you’re the one who kept going on about how much you wanted a dog of your own but couldn’t get one because the house would get too crowded with the two of us, Sumo and another dog around”, Hank says, laughing now, “The socks are there because I thought your twenty pairs of black socks could use some more colorful company.” The look on Connor’s face continues to be one of disbelief. Slowly, he begins to shake his head and puts the socks and the plush puppy back into the box. Hank stops laughing and suddenly fears he made a mistake yet again.  
  
“Look, Con, I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted”, he hurries to say, “You just immediately buy all books and movies that interest you so there was no way for me to get ahead of you in that department. And giving gift cards sucks if you ask me. I wanted you to have something fun for your first birthday. And because you liked dogs so much, I thought…” Before Hank can say any more, he’s tackled by Connor. Not expecting an attack-hug quite like this, Hank falls over backward and lands on his back with Connor toppling down on top of him.  
  
For a moment or two, both of them just look at each other. Then Connor dives in and presses his lips to Hank’s. It takes the older man a split-second to realize what is happening and then he is returning the kiss. Connor seems to be just as good at hiding his feelings as Hank is because he had no idea the android even feels about him this way. But Hank is not one to ask questions when the man of his dreams kisses him out of the blue. He wraps his arms around Connor to hold him in place and deepens the kiss. Deep, warm contentment thrums through his body and for the first time in years Hank feels like he is right where he belongs. With Connor’s supposed inexperience the kiss is a little stiff and clumsy, but Hank wouldn’t change a thing about it. Finally allowing himself this, feeling Connor’s lips on his chapped ones sets his whole being ablaze with love and adoration. He never wants this to end but eventually, he has to break away to breathe. Hank and Connor look at each other again, both now with dopey smiles on their faces.  
  
“That was unexpected”, Hank says eventually, his voice rough.  
  
“I surprised myself a little”, Connor admits as the faintest of blushes spreads across his cheeks, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now but never found the right moment. I figured now would be as good a time as any…” Hank opens his eyes wide in mock-shock.  
  
“So you did all this without a thousand fancy preconstructions?”, he asks, fighting down a grin that threatens to break out on his face, “You left it all to chance? I can’t believe it, Con! You’re finally becoming a real boy!”  
  
“Stop it, Hank!”, Connor whines but there’s no real hurt behind his words, “I was very scared.” There’s a sincerity in those words that makes Hank’s heart melt in his chest. His arms wrap more tightly around Connor. Now that they are this close, Hank doesn’t want even a millimeter between them.  
  
“I’m glad you still went ahead and kissed me”, he admits, “I would have been too scared to ever do it no matter how much I wanted you.” Connor smiles softly at that and there’s nothing but warmth and understanding in his eyes. Gathering all his courage, Hank moves upward a little until his lips meet Connor’s again.  
  
Just like the first time, it’s pure magic. If someone had described their kiss to Hank the way he would describe this one, he would have called them a sap and rolled his eyes. But now he finally understands all the endless descriptions in the romance novels he hides at the back of his bookshelf. Kissing Connor feels like two halves of a whole finally coming together. It’s soft and gentle and all the other things Hank has craved these past years when he was alone. And despite the kiss still lacking experience and finesse it’s enough to almost bring tears to Hank’s eyes.  
  
When they break apart this time, Connor makes to move but Hank holds him in place.

“I’m too heavy”, the android protests but Hank shakes his head.  
  
“It’s perfect like this”, he insists and after another second or two of struggling, Connor gives up and rests his head on Hank’s chest.  
  
“I really like your gift, by the way”, he eventually says and Hank breaks into another dumb smile at that. He’s glad to know Connor likes what he got him even if it was something as ridiculous as socks and a plush toy.  
  
“Good to know”, he replies and runs a hand through Connor’s hair. The android sighs softly and Hank enjoys the soft texture of his hair against his rough skin.  
  
“I really do”, Connor insists, “I appreciate you wanting to fulfill my wishes even when it’s not possible at the moment. That plush corgi might not be a real dog, but you got me something as close to the real thing as I could get at the moment even if it seems silly. It’s obvious you care a lot about me, and I want you to know I care a lot about you too…even if I might not be too good at showing it yet.” As much as the android tries to hide it, Hank immediately picks up on the undercurrent of insecurity that laces his voice.  
  
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about things you can’t control”, Hank says softly, “You show that you care in your own ways. Doesn’t mean I don’t see it. To me, you’re perfect just the way you are.” Hank plays with a curl of Connor’s hair and it does seem to calm the android down a little bit. After a while, he moves off of Hank but stays close and snuggles himself up to Hank’s side, head resting on his shoulder.  
  
“Thank you, Hank”, Connor mutters after a few minutes of silence, “For the birthday surprise. And for everything else too.” Hank wants to say something in return, tell Connor that he has just as many things he wants to thank him for. But one look into Connor’s warm, brown eyes tells him now is not the time.

So instead of talking, they kiss again. Hank does his best to put all his emotions into it without overwhelming Connor. But it seems that Connor is eating them right up and lets all his feelings for Hank flow back to him in return. Neither of them has ever felt better than right in this very moment. Above their heads, meteors are still shooting across the night sky but neither of them is paying attention to them anymore for they have found the fulfillment of all their wishes in each other’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks a lot for reading! Comments and kudos are much appreciated! You can also come say hi on twitter @NoiseStrangest !


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